Life Notes: Mindful Living

What does it mean to live mindfully?
To live in a mindful way is to live with a devotion to awareness.
Awareness of the world around you.
Awareness of the world within you.

Mindful living is all about being awake-
Not going about life in an evasive fog designed to avoid responsibility or feelings or connection
to and with other sentient beings.
Too many go through their days so glued to their mobile phones and tablets that they barely
notice that life is not a virtual reality show.
So many spend hours on social media posting, tweeting, and linking that there is no time for
real people and real relationships.

Mindfulness is all about engagement with others and the larger world.
When we are mindful, life is filled with wonder and fulfillment.
Each moment has meaning.
Each encounter has value.
We feel part of something larger than our ‘selfie’.
We learn that ‘less is more’ as we feel sated by the abundance of the gifts life has to offer us.

When we are mindful, we understand that there is fullness in emptiness,
We see the light in darkness,
We are present to bare witness to life.

Our ability to live mindfully in the present is one of life’s major challenges.
We are easily distracted by just about everything.
Our mind wanders or races or jumps around.
We lose focus.
We succumb to desires, fears, boredom, toxic emotions.
We get stuck.
We get lost.
We forget.
We fall asleep.
We numb ourselves with drugs, food, shopping – whatever will zombify our consciousness.

But somewhere at the very core of our being, we know that this is not what life is really about.
We know that we are here for a purpose.
Once this realization happens, mindfulness begins.
Take that first step in conscious awareness.
Begin the journey,
Stay on the path – mindful living is about finding and living your purpose!